Tempered by Fire (Story)

Of late, the sad news of the New Mexico/Colorado fires crosses all streams of media. There are literally hundreds of homes destroyed and thousands of people now homeless...

Yesterday, I found a website (Samaritan's Purse) with story and pictures of the recovery efforts already underway.

There was a photo in their story, though, of a woman holding up an intact ceramic figurine that survived the fire when there was nothing but ash and charred remains around her.

Yet on her face, there is this smile as she presents what she found.

This brought to mind another story, which I would like to share with my readers now. This was a story I heard on the radio back in 2009.

Tempered by Fire

A firefighter was going through a house that was completely destroyed by fire. Sifting through the warm ash, his fingers found these white ceramic figurines.

All it took was lightly dusting the ash from them, and they shown bright and beautiful, practically the same as the day they arrived at the house.

Everything else was gone. 

Moved by what was found, he asked the homeowner if he could keep one.

Surprised and still in shock over all she had lost... the homeowner mutely nodded her assent.

A few days later, that firefighter was speaking with some of his friends who were going through a very difficult period in their life. One had lost a job, the other ill, their roof leaked and the bills just kept piling up.....

The firefighter pulled the white ceramic figurine from his pocket and held it up for them to see. He explained how he came to find it. Then, he explained why it meant so much to him. 

"This was tempered in fire before it was ever brought into that house. While everything else in that house was destroyed by that terrible fire, these survived.

"If they hadn't gone through the fire first, they would have been destroyed."

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Sometimes we need to go through touch times to become strong enough for even greater challenges in life that would otherwise destroy us completely.

-ESA

Pushing the Rock (Story)

This is a story I've heard in passing from time-to-time. I'd like to share it today with you. 

~ ESA

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A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and Jesus appeared before him. 

Christ told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin.

The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock every day with all his might.

This the man did, day after day.

For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing it with all his might.

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Noticing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s mind. “You have been pushing against this rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.”

Thus the adversary gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These troubling thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. “Why kill myself over this?" he said to himself. "I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough."

And that is what he planned the very next day day.

That night, Jesus visited the man again, and the man decided to the matter before Him. “Lord” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength pushing against that rock. See my hands? See how my muscles are so tired, and my back aches at the end of each day. Yet, after all this time, I have not even been able to budge that rock. Not even an inch! What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

Jesus responded compassionately, “My friend, When I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?”

 
“Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard.

"Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yes, you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done.

"I, my friend, will now move the rock.”

Distractions

It's amazing how many distractions I can find in my life if I just sit back and take the time to notice that they are there. I've had several great topics I wanted to blog, friend's emails I wanted to reply to, friends and relatives I mean to call, time I need to spend with my husband... things that should get done but gets swept away by petty, little -- and sadly pointless -- distractions.

Distractions are little things I will turn my attention to instead of that which I should do. This can be a game, sudoku puzzle, surfing the internet aimlessly, reading a book, and many other things that, by themselves, aren't bad to indulge in but do not need to be done before that which should be done.

This will most often happens when I find that which I should do as difficult or uncomfortable. The distractions bring a sense of comfort, familiarity, fun or similar feelings. For example, in writing this blog alone, I have been distracted and have:

• written a list of other ideas to blog
• loaded a program on my boss' computer
• chatted with someone
• read other people's blogs
• watched videos posted on the internet
• looked up which founding father mentioned "an armed and educated populace" is an essential thing <-- and that one took a good chunk of time
  
  
• helped my boss look for a lost wallet
• written to someone about the "armed and educated populace" findings
• further chatted with people...

You get the idea... I was even having distractions distract me from the original distractions. LOL This has taken three hours of time wherein this blog (and the others on that list) could have been done.

What's wrong with distractions (other than not getting work done)? They can mislead us from what we should do, what we should hear, what we should see, where we should be. Like a child being led away with the promise of candy and fun times, we can let the little distractions that infiltrate our activities lead us away from what we should do in this life.

Distractions are little temptations. Temptation will not come in the form of a winged devil offering you the best the world can offer and all you have to do is say yes or no. It can come in the form of tiny little distractions, procrastinations and deviations that can lead us astray, one sidestep at a time.

In the end, when we look back on our lives, what will we see? Will we see the achievements we've accomplished, the good that we've done, the people that we have helped, or will we see all the little distractions that, in the end, really amount to nothing.

When I see what the little distractions can do in my life, I see where I need to shoulder my burdens a bit better and, like a quarterback with those really big shoulder-pads, take the treasure of the goal I wish to accomplish in my arms and plunge my way through all the little distractions that try to tackle me and take me down before I can reach my objective.

The ball is in your hands now.
Will you fumble
Or score

- ESA